Something Missing Today

I'm not quite with it today - feel like a sack of potatoes. Kept getting up in the middle of the night because the dog was being sick. She still looks a bit off today and I feel not quite right either. And Sunderland got beat again last night. Nothing for it but to work my way out of it. Oh, and the track "Missing" from Beck's "Guero" album.

Meanwhile the Times more news on Climategate from the man who made a Freedom Of Information Request to the CRU at the University of East Anglia:

"Mr Holland said: “There is an apparent Catch-22 here. The prosecution has to be initiated within six months but you have to exhaust the university’s complaints procedure before the commission will look at your complaint. That process can take longer than six months.”

Surely that's just a coincidence?

Obama's "sensible" economics

I try to keep this blog as active as I can manage because I cannot abide the filth spewed out into the "newspapers" by total fucking spanners like this 'Barry Eichengreen' in the Taipei Times. I'll get around to fisking it later... I'm off home to cook and play with my dog before work.

Later:

"His [Obama's] US$787 billion fiscal stimulus was good.....[it] gave the economy a necessary shot in the arm. "

My basic objection to this assessment lies with its' macro-economic premise alluded to with the sick patient metaphor. In order to begin to see clearly what it is I am objecting to, consider the following question:

Where does one economy end and another one begin?

Any lightbulbs lighting up out there? Given the existence of international trade between people of various nations and regions, what makes the U.S. economy specifically "U.S." and what makes Taiwan's economy specifically "Taiwan's"? When goods are exported from Kaohsiung to San Francisco, what part of that trade "belongs" to the economy of Taiwan and the economy of the U.S.? There is a simple one word answer:

Tax.

The sole motive for identifying an aggregate of trade as "belonging" to a particular nation's "economy", rather than belonging exclusively to the particular buying and selling parties making up this aggregate, is to measure it for the purpose of deciding how much of it to subtract in taxation.

The common sense point of view is to regard trade between two freely consenting parties as exclusively their business and nobody else's. The use of a veiled threat of violence to extort a portion of that trade by a third party, for example a gangster, is commonly known as theft - or pimping. The facts do not change just because the third party happens to be the State, rather than a local pimp. Each particular trade between two parties truly belongs exclusively to them - any subsequent extortion of value from this trade by the State is a violation of economic activity and therefore to identify any given aggregate of economic activity as "belonging to" a region (i.e. the State exercising power over that region) is to make a very serious error. It is an error of great consequence as it commits one to a perspective from which subsequent errors cannot be identified as such.

So, when this Barry Eichengreen tool asserts that the U.S. President's policy of spending a vast sum of just such extorted value is good because it gave the State's measurements of "the economy" a tilt in the right direction, it is because he is trapped within his epistemic error of misidentifying traded values as necessarily belonging to a third party. According to this point of view, all economic value rightfully belongs with the State and what is left over is that which is necessary for common sustenance and an elastic degree of privilege.

Now I could be wrong, for there is another possibility.

Perhaps I am being generous in labelling Barry Eichengreen as a tool - perhaps, in his case, it was never a matter of "misidentifying" and he knowingly commits himself to this error on purpose. That is a horrible thought - pregnant with the implication that it is men like this who believe not only that their values do not belong to them, but that yours do not belong to you either.

Take a good look at the things you prize the most and weigh this thought carefully against them.

Engineering The Costs Of Manufacturing Toward Zero

Fascinating post over at Counting Cats in Zanzibar on another "transformative technology" - the three dimensional open source printer Reprap. Would you like to make your own physical products (coat hangers, cups, chairs, tables) by downloading the designs over the web and running them off your own 3D printer? For free? Well why not up the ante somewhat by considering the power of this concept multiplied tremendously through the power of nanotechnology?

The Monsters Were Up All Night

Martin McPhillips has the best response I have so far seen to Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts.

Why Markets Should Replace Governments:

Peter Robinson, interviewing Thomas Sowell:

"Because consequential knowledge, by it's nature, tends to be widely diffused."

An interesting echo of Von Mises and Popper; in order to live successfully, human beings must be able to cooperate with one another in the condition of freedom from coercive force.

"Roue le Jour" On Organ Harvesting

Roue le Jour almost nails the issue of organ harvesting over on Samizdata (comment 31 in response to Laird):

"It is meaningless to prohibit something without an associated penalty. What is the penalty for removing organs without permission?"

It isn't meaningless, but it is very likely to be without consequence; you're dead so you can't do anything about it, and if your family and friends dare try, they are up against the State itself. Which gets us to the important question: how do you defeat the State?

Sublime

This youtube compilation of ten historic Real Madrid goals used to be set to the tune "Lilian" by Depeche Mode but it seems that has recently been deleted due to copyright restrictions, which is a real pity because the subtlety of putting that video to that song came to a sublime conclusion. A fantastic little work of art in its' own right which has now disappeared. I think of the opposition fans with the song's words:

"Oh Lilian, look what you've done: you took my heart, ripped it apart, in the name of fun!"

The song and video were perfect together - I started the song just a second before the video, and big smiles at Puskas' goal at 1.34. That goal and the second Raul goal. Goosebumps.

Himalayan Glaciers

Yo TT editors: if the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis is true and the dangers of a catastrophic nature, then why is it necessary to mislead people?

World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown

Your side is wrong, you know it and you should come out and eat humble pie in a full spread editorial.

Of Kettles & Frying Pans

Sirs

With respect to Michael J. Cole's editorial of Monday 11th January, I should like to point out to him that, although he is probably correct in his prediction that the militant nationalism of Chinese students arriving in Taiwan will come as a shock to many young Taiwanese students, he is nevertheless well out of order to castigate young Taiwanese people as "in denial of their own identity".
Allow me to quote:

Once these substantial differences are made concrete through contact and interaction, however, there is hope that Taiwanese youth will realize that the denial of their identity is actually something that matters, that there is more to existence than finding a good job and making money.

Contrary to Mr Cole, I would hope that Taiwanese students identify themselves foremost as individual human beings with unique names, personal histories, interests and friends formed through the freedom of choice. He has no right whatsoever to push his Taiwanese nationalism upon other people, especially as he complains of Chinese nationalism in the very same article.

Yes I realize that there is a significant difference in degree of intensity between Taiwanese and Chinese nationalism - but they are both false outlooks emerging from either moral nihilism or the epistemic failure to grasp the implications of self-ownership; the life of each person belongs to that person alone and nobody else.

Yours as ever,
Michael Fagan

(Sent Saturday 16th January 2010. Unpublished by the Taipei Times)

Rare Event For Those At A Distance:

I make a funny on Samizdata:

Nuke Gray: "We should call them [green lobby groups] Non-cash-profit groups..."
Me: What does the "Non" stand for? Now-or-never?"

Big smile! Or maybe not. Whatever...

A Laugh A Day...

... keeps the doctors away. Haha! You couldn't make it up:

Gay man who tried to poison lesbian neighbours with slug pellets over three-legged cat feud walks free

Courtesty of Nick M.

I Refuse To Recognize Your Authority...

Raymond St Clair understands English Common Law, but does not "stand under" the Statutory Law of the United Kingdom. Excellent.

Google Quits China

Good for you Google , even if you've been a bit slow. That picture above is what it's all about - the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 is the perfect example of what government is, and the subsequent attempts by the commies to suppress information about this are just as illustrative. This view is also interesting:

If you believe rumors that last year's attacks against Twitter were orchestrated by the Russian government as well as theory alleging that the Iranian government took a stab at DDoS attacks just recently, it is arguable that what we're watching today is the beginning of Cold War 2.0 -- Government vs. business, battlefield world wide web.

Kaohsiung To Become More Like Baltimore...

A comprehensive plan for developing Kaohsiung City into an air and marine park by creating recreational facilities while maintaining the city’s business functions will be released within a month, the government’s chief planning agency said on Monday. Vice Chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Hwang Wang-hsiang (黃萬翔) said the five-year plan, to be released after the Lunar New Year, will aim to strike a balance in development between the north and the south. The goal is to transform the port city into a commercial area like Baltimore in the US by expanding its services from port trade and business to tourism and recreation, he said.

Oh dear. Another stupidity on the way...

Remedial Class - The Necessity Of Private Property

“We are not against development in general, but in this case, they haven’t shown any consideration for us local residents or our environment,” You said. “All that has [mattered] to the county government and the wealthy developers has been how to make [money].”

You Huang-ming (游煌明) perhaps does not realize that making money means creating value for other people - and why should his valuation of how the four and a half hectares ought to be used get to trump anybody else's valuation? Why is his value (leave the land as it is) "appropriate" to the four and a half hectare site and that of the would-be developers (create wealth) "inappropriate"?

There is a particular difficulty with this question in Hualien because nobody actually owns the land - the local government claims discretionary control over it on behalf of the people living in nearby Hualien City. The difficulty for developers is in trying to buy the land not from a single owner, but from a multitude of owners represented by a government. I have little doubt that there will be people living in Hualien who would be quite happy to "sell" the land to the developers just as there are people like You Huang-ming (游煌明) who do not want to sell. Whereas he favours the "undisturbed and fragile ecosystem" to remain as it is, there will surely be others who favour the prospects of alternative investment or employment. The fiction of the "common good" is just that - a fiction. Different people live different lives and therefore have different values. Everybody understands this elementary fact, yes? Why can't people like You Huang-ming (游煌明) do the math and work out the political implications?

When more things come under the control of "collective ownership", this simply decreases the radius of values in which civilized, peaceful exchange can take place.

Incidentally, I love the road up from Kenting to Hualien. I'll be biking it again this summer for sure.

"Society Is Fractal"

Says "PA Annoyed" in an excellent post he has up on Counting Cats In Zanzibar - I find myself reading their blog more and more now as an alternative to Samizdata.

Quick Note On Michael J. Cole

Michael J. Cole has an editorial piece in the Taipei Times today on the prospect of Chinese kids arriving in Taiwan to enroll in University programs. His take is that, since these kids will be screened by the commies for ideological purity before they are chosen, their arrival will eventually be a rude awakening to Taiwanese students.

There is much for me to pick fault with in his essay, but I don't have enough time right now. However, I want to note down this as his chief wrong:

Once these substantial differences are made concrete through contact and interaction, however, there is hope that Taiwanese youth will realize that the denial of their identity is actually something that matters, that there is more to existence than finding a good job and making money.

The identity of "Taiwanese youth" is not something you or anybody else gets to decide on their behalf Mr Cole. Neither do you get to impute your valuations of what makes life worth living onto anyone other than yourself. Their lives do not belong to you and your Taiwanese nationalist fantasies so do not write as if they are your own surrogate children. I will write a letter to him on this when I get around to it later this week.

Motorbike Tunes...

Chef from Southparks' "Run Fay Run": sunshine-drenched country road eating ecstasy at 60mph on a motorbike.

Yes, I have my new earphones! (Phillips)

Revising Water Management

Sirs,

Monday's editorial by Hong Chi-chang on the problems that water management poses to the Ma administration was disappointing. In particular, the premise that water management problems can "only" be solved by central government does not hold up to rational examination. I submit that a free market (i.e. free from taxation, regulation and other interference by government) is more likely to successfully address problems of water management over the years to come, if only it is allowed to do so.

In cases of drought, the problem is to be found not in a lack of water per se, but rather the with the economics of handling the logistical demands of purifying and transporting large quantities of water for consumption. This is equally true with cases of flooding, in which too much water carries debris which can damage the piping network thus necessitating temporary shut downs whilst time-consuming and expensive repairs are carried out.

A more general criticism however, is that piping networks delivering water from gigantic treatment facilities to a multitude of buildings within an urban area are rather expensive to construct and maintain - the costs are not only monetary, but must include all the inconveniences and risks involved in digging up public roads in order to carry out maintenance work.

Recent developments in filter technology obviate the need for such gigantic water treatment facilities and their accompanying octopus-like piping networks; nano-scale filters can now eliminate all micro-organisms from water that passes through them thus eliminating health risks. The further development of such filters for use within houses, apartment complexes and other buildings would allow one to conceive of breaking up the monopolistic logistical nightmare of Taiwan Water Corporation into distinct markets for each stage - the collecting, saving, transporting and filtering of water for domestic use. Aside from the obvious benefits to the economy of replacing a monopolized, inefficient industry with a larger, more competitive industry under multitudinous ownership, there would also be the benefit of enabling people struck by future natural (or man made) disasters to gather clean water for themselves quickly without the need for government assistance - a filip which would not only save time and money, but surely also save lives.

What is needed is for the government to be prepared to get out of the way and let entrepreneurs do their thing; making the world a better place.

Yours as ever,
Michael Fagan

(Sent: Monday 11th January 2010. Unpublished by the Taipei Times).

Coffee shop power sockets

Sarwa coffee shop, where I come to get on with my own work and do a bit of blogging (and on a fairly regular basis too) has covered up all their power sockets except one, in the front of the shop which is surrounded by old people reading newspapers - and thus inaccessible until they leave. It used to be that there were power sockets at just about every table. I imagine this is because they want to cut down on their electricity bill - but what a silly way to do it! The smart thing to do would surely be to offer incentives to customers with laptops to spend more money to help them cover their electricity bill. Annoying.

Zombie Wu

And the Taipei Times continues into 2010 (post-Climategate) with more of the: "let's all yap for governments to destroy other people's lives to stop global warming" nonsense... I'm quite sure that they - like the Economist writers Paul Marks complains about - suspect that they are in fact wrong, but just don't care anymore.

Whatever you do, do it quickly and don't mess about.

My comment on this most necessary advice to people who find themselves in the position of one Myleene Klass - by Perry De Havilland.

The Defence Of The Island

The purchase of the Patriot missile system is militarily misguided. Patriot missiles rely on radar, which China is more than capable of disabling. What’s more, a sizeable, sustained missile attack against a key installation — such as the naval base at Zuoying (左營), Kaohsiung City — would overwhelm any Patriot system assigned there for protection.

Says Paul Deacon of Kaohsiung in the Taipei Times letters section today - alongside my piece below.

I am not a military systems expert, but my understanding was that China's radar-jamming capabilities lie primarily with their aircraft (e.g. the J-10). If this is true, then that simply underscores the importance to Taiwan of maintaining air superiority over the Strait and jamming their command & control on the ground.

Of course, it is surely true that a sustained ballistic missile attack on Zuoying would overwhelm the PAC-3 system due to its' short range (in that respect, Lockheed Martin's THAAD system looks a better option), but were this to actually happen, there is the very serious question of whether, and with what level of commitment, U.S. and Japanese forces would intervene.

As these systems are very expensive, and Taiwan could never buy enough to counter every single Chinese missile, the money could have been better used for measures to withstand a prolonged missile barrage than to shoot them down.

Like what?

However, if the Chinese are upset at the prospect of Taiwan arming itself with such a defensive capability, and given that cross-strait relations are — we are told — much improved, the solution would seem to be for China to dismantle its 1,500 missiles aimed at Taiwan, at a stroke making redundant the need for the Patriot system and showing good faith toward a people it claims are its compatriots.

Nice, but naive - and I'm sure Paul Deacon knows it.

If there is to be any real hope over the long term, then it must lie with the epistemic power to recognize the condition of individual freedom as essential for successful living. That applies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the mere existence of two centralized States does not at all exhaust the number of obstacles to achieving this.

Beef

From today's Taipei Times editorial:

In the end, only the American Institute in Taiwan’s press release spoke the truth on this matter with the force and exposure that it deserved, and that is this: Science lost.

What this nameless scribbler is missing is that neither his precious "Science" nor the executive, legislature or judiciary have any natural right to force the decisions of either producers of beef products in the United States or of consumers in Taiwan in any direction to any degree whatsoever. Under conditions of free trade and free association, problems with the quality of beef products would be resolved and paid for by the beef producers themselves under the pressure of market competition. He/she is right however here:

US beef is not one of those matters, but that is not the point. For the Consumers’ Foundation, invigorated by the elevation of a former foundation president to the Control Yuan, power and fame is the game.

The necessity of scaling back government control over international trade cannot be evaded without the incurring of disgusting costs.

Patriot Missiles

Sirs,

I was pleased to read today's headline that the U.S. defense department has finally allowed Lockheed Martin to sell Patriot Missiles to the government in Taipei. Although I will not dispense with my ethical objection to purchases made with stolen money, I would be happy to make a voluntary contribution to the costs of appropriate military assets for the defense of this island from the hive of lawmakers in Beijing. Within Taiwan's tripartite military structure of Airforce, Navy and Army however, I hope for the abolition and disbanding of the Army and all of its' assets (including real estate) which is an inappropriate, unnecessary and immoral waste of resources for a small island.

Yours as ever,
Michael Fagan

(Sent: Friday 8th January 2010. Published by the Taipei Times: Sunday 10th January 2010)

Kant Contra Kleist

Go read this excellent piece on the destruction of the talented German writer Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) by Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. In the comments section, Myrhaf ponders Nietzsche's reaction to Kant - the common view seems to be that Nietzsche accepted Kant's subjectivism, but I'm not so sure. Apart from the passages in Nietzsche which seem to heap contempt upon subjectivism, there is his characterization of the "will to truth" as merely another form of his infamous "will to power", which I take simply as a recognition that a man's grasp of reality is necessary for acting purposefully - as Rand herself insisted.

Now, I wish I had a pterodactyl. But this being reality I have to make do with a Vauxhall Corsa.

Nick M splits my sides.

Watch & Learn Slaves

Why I do what I do here.

Bad Earphones

When I come out to the coffee shop to work on my other projects and do a bit of blogging, I like to bring my earphones with me so that I may avoid the stupid radio and the sound of stupid people's dogs yapping outside (why do people with dogs do that? I mean they know and can see that their dog will react angrily when in proximity to another dog, and yet they just stand there like idiots letting the dogs strain at each other while everybody else gets pissed off by the irregular noise of their yapping - why?!! Retards).

I just bought a new pair of earphones yesterday on the strength of their being cheap and appearing to be a design sufficiently similar to these which was also true of my last pair. Bad decision - these things are fucking stupid. The rings to wrap around your ears are disconnectable (as if that is an advantage - having them in the first place is the whole fucking point, otherwise I'd just buy a pair without them) and consequently always slip off. And the sound quality is atrociously tinny. I'll post the name of the company after I get back home.

Anyway, think I might go and sort out a new pair right now, and get a football while I'm at it, so I can listen to this while having a half-hour of kick-ups on the basketball court. The local kids will have ?? and !! all around their heads and I need the exercise.

Update: Earphones made by Sampo: EK-Y857MP. Don't buy them.

Gambling On The Mountain's Edge

Alright so I finally get around to doing a New Year post - is distraction the mother of all destruction? There are a million things I want to write about, but they must all take their rightful place in the priorities list.

Technologies like this one and this one and this one are of interest to me because they seem to offer the promise of freedom from centralized distribution networks - networks which of course are often controlled by the State even if indirectly through major shareholdings.

Hope for the preservation of sufficient freedom to successfully develop such technologies on a commercial basis is something I'd like to claim. Stacked against this hope however, are the presumptively governing bodies across the world supported by all manner of wicked and wrong everywhere (most especially in education, the arts, healthcare and the media).

The higher we climb the mountain, the deeper the abyss beneath us becomes.

To make predictions about the successful emergence of such world-shatteringly brilliant technologies strikes me as a fraudulent use of the term when perhaps "gambling" might be more accurate. Sure I would like to believe we could keep climbing indefinitely - but as I said, wicked and wrong are everywhere around us now and too many people cannot see them through the gathering twilight to be putting up the fight.